ABSTRACT
The emergence of so many political actors strengthened the fluidity and nervousness that had characterized inter-state relations before 1960. This chapter argues that inter-African relations became, during the following two years, highly volatile and sensitive to incidents and misunderstandings that easily soured the political atmosphere. It discusses why and how these cleavages gave way, by 1963, to a new patterning of inter-African relations. The chapter shows how this led to some sort of rapprochement by way of the formation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). It analyses the nature and extent of the various centrifugal and centripetal forces, which provides impetus to contradictory tendencies to fragmentation and co-operation. The chapter also discusses the ideology underlying the formation of the OAU. Socio-economic and technical co-operation were emphasized as more effective steps towards African unity, an attitude that seemed functionalist in conception.
